Ramallah: Fugitive threatens to blow himself up
Fatah member entrenches himself at police station with explosive belt after his weapon was confiscated by PA officers, threatens to commit suicide if it is not returned to him. Officers manage to gain control over him
The officers at the station managed to gain control over the gunman and worked to detonate the explosive belt which was strapped to his body in a controlled manner.
The Palestinian Authority has been carrying out a security campaign in the past few weeks aimed at restoring order to the PA territories. During the operation, the Fatah member's Kalashnikov rifle was confiscated.
On Saturday, the man decided to take action in order to get his rifle back. He strapped an explosive belt to his body and arrived at a police station in the center of the West Bank city of Ramallah, entrenched himself in one of the rooms and threatened to blow himself up if the officers did not promise to return his weapon.
A commotion erupted in the area, and many civilians and police officers gathered around the building. The officers quickly managed to gain control over the man. There were no injures in the incident.
The security campaign carried out by the PA is mainly aimed at criminals, car thieves and drug dealers.
On Friday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that the security plan declared by his government was not aimed at the armed organizations and their arms, and therefore it is still unclear why the fugitive's weapon was confiscated.
However, a number of incidents have been taking in the Nablus area in the past few weeks between Palestinian security officers and organization members, after the officers attempted to confiscate the gunmen's cars and weapons.
